At Mississippi State, this week is an opportunity to prove to the college football world their bubble is not easy to pop. Mississippi State has won at LSU. They have handled defending SEC champion Auburn. They are ranked number one in the country, yet they still have something to prove.

It’s not very often that the SEC comes to Minnesota for recruiting college football players. So when Nick Saban and Alabama came calling for East Ridge offensive lineman J.C. Hassenauer, he was happy to listen. Saban offered him a scholarship, and he accepted.

It is fitting that the Iron Bowl finally gets to play this kind of role in the SEC, and it is a shock it has not happened like this before. Since the addition of a conference championship game in the SEC in 1992, Alabama and Auburn have never been quite this good in the same season.